Jungle Cruise Movie, The New Pirates of the Caribbean?

*All rights to this photo belong to Walt Disney Studios

*FYI no spoilers for Jungle Cruise until about halfway through this blog post, I will make it clear when we get there. 😉)

Hello!

It has been a bit! I have had a pretty busy year so far between weddings (not my own, close friends whose weddings I was in), moving, and trying to figure out how to do my job in a changing world.

Also, frankly, inspiration hasn’t struck and writing, in general, has been challenging for me for about the last year and a half for pretty obvious reasons.

But that’s not what we’re here for, I want to discuss Disney’s latest theme park ride film adaptation, Jungle Cruise!

I know I have expressed in the past my deep love of Disney, but I think I have neglected to mention (or at least go into detail) that my love of Disney isn’t just for their media, it’s also very much so for their theme parks. In short, I grew up going to Disneyland and fell in love with the parks. As an adult, I learned more about the parks history, development, and how the rides work, then participated in my Disney College Program and I was done for.

However, I reached new levels of my Disney parks nerdom during the pandemic. I have watched countless ride POV videos, dug into ride and park history, explored what the international parks had to offer, and even listened to parks background music while I work and write. The Disney parks have helped me stay sane over these unprecedented times. I am extremely grateful to have the technology and content creators that allow for this outlet.

Naturally, when Disney announced that we were getting a movie based on a beloved Disney parks ride, Jungle Cruise, I was cautiously excited. Especially since Jungle Cruise is a ride that is near and dear to my heart.

“Cautiously?” You might wonder. Yes… because modern Disney doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to its live-action movies. Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean was an extreme success and actually a personal favorite of mine (both ride and movie), but many of the live-action films that Disney has produced in the last twenty years just don’t have the best track record. Bringing us tragedies (and box office flops) such as The Country Bears (2002), The Haunted Mansion (2003), Race to Witch Mountain (2009) [Ironically also with Dwanye Johnson, however, I really think he has grown as an actor since this movie], G-Force (2009), Prince of Persia (2010), John Carter (2012), and The Lone Ranger (2013). Then of course there are the more recent and controversial Disney animated to live-action adaptations that none of us asked for. Most of these are at least watchable and try to bring something fresh to their original stories, but all they will ever be is just attempts at trying to be as good as their predecessors. [Except for Lion King (2019), it’s like watching a bizarre nature documentary with a Beyoncé song playing in the background… The only entertaining thing (outside of the Beyoncé song) was its interpretation of “A Lion Sleeps Tonight”, it was just bad and a basically shot-for-shot recreation of the original except for with emotionless “live-action” lions.] Finally, there are Disney’s latest attempts at capitalizing on their theme park property with Tomorrowland (2015) and the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie (the 2017 one), neither of which was very good despite how hard I wanted to like them (like seriously, I really tried... ).

[For the record, the Disney live-action movies were actually once a strong suit of the Walt Disney Company with classic films such as Treasure Island (1950), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Old Yeller (1957), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Tron (1982), and many others.]

Despite all of this, it has been a few years since Disney released their latest attempt at a theme park ride-based movie so I was ready to give Jungle Cruise a chance. Plus I love the ride, the previews actually made me hopeful that the movie would at least be better than other theme park ride-based movies. In addition, I was (and still am) hopeful that the Jungle Cruise movie could lead into a new Disney “cinematic universe”.

[The international Disney parks have been slowly incorporating the secret society of S.E.A. into their parks for years now, The S.E.A. (Society of Explorers and Adventurers) is a “secret” society of intriguing characters that explore and adventure across the world, researching, collecting artifacts and befriending locals on their expeditions. I love the concept and believe that this society could potentially have some really interesting stories for the big screen. Jungle Cruise (the ride) has some ties to S.E.A. and many parks fans have been hoping that this movie will lead to something more. If you are interested in learning more about the S.E.A. then I strongly recommend watching FastPass Facts’ series of videos on the topic.]

Anyway, onto Jungle Cruise (the movie) itself! I happened to see Jungle Cruise opening night and I absolutely loved it! My initial reaction was that the filmmakers were able to both honor the source material (plenty of fantastic homage to the ride) and have an intriguing, entertaining, and surprisingly thoughtful movie. With Jungle Cruise’s release and with Cruella’s recent release (which was also really good!), I am now (finally) hopeful about Disney’s live-action movie trajectory.

But onto the real question of this blog post, is Jungle Cruise the new Pirates of the Caribbean?

I find it first of all prudent to quickly examine what made Pirates of the Caribbean work? We will be primarily looking at Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl for this examination, but since the first three Pirates movies are all a part of a larger story and are (overall) better than the other two Pirates of the Caribbean movies I will only be referring to the first three.

So, what made Pirates of the Caribbean work?

I personally think there are many aspects to the Pirates films that make them work so well for audiences, but some of the most critical would have to be the following:

• Good characters & actors that portrayed them well

• Clever writing

• Humor

• Ties back to the source material (aka the ride)

• Stunning visual effects

• Killer music

• Curses (apparently)

SPOILERS AHEAD for Pirates of the Caribbean, obviously, (although I feel like most people have seen this movie and if you haven’t you have had almost twenty years to do so and you should just watch it.)

Good Characters & Actors: The characters in these movies are interesting, dynamic, and are overall fun to watch. Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) are fantastic protagonists because it is indicated that they both long for something more in this world (not to mention their feelings towards each other) yet they are trapped in the regimented and narrow-minded world that the movie established very quickly. Bloom and Knightley have excellent chemistry right off of the bat and maintain that throughout the first film and the other two (despite moments where the other films make the audience question if the couple will stay together or not). They also individually maintain their characters well and skillfully play off of the other key characters. They both completely made sense for our protagonists and do a great job of pressing the story forwards, however they do end up getting overshadowed by other characters/actors.

Captain Jack Sparrow, (Johnny Depp) takes on a fantastic supporting character role (in the first film) that keeps the story interesting and fresh. Audiences everywhere couldn’t help but love the ridiculous drunk pirate from the very moment of his introduction (which has to be one of the single best character intros ever) as he confidently guides his very dinky, sinking ship into the harbor as epic music plays in the background. Instilling his confidence, disregard of rules (both the formal society and typical pirate rules), and already causing the audience to question his choices while simultaneously making many of us already yearning to know more about this curious character. Jack’s unpredictability and Depp’s excellent and unique performance has made Captain Jack Sparrow one of the most widely loved movie characters of the last twenty years and has (almost) single-handedly kept the fuel under Disney’s fire to keep making Pirates movies.

I say “almost” above because Jack is certainly not the only fan favorite of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies because the antagonist turned supporting character Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) certainly gives Jack a run for his money for this spot (so much so that they had to bring him back for the sequels because he was so beloved). Barbossa didn’t have to be a well-crafted and sympathetic villain, but they made him that, and Geoffrey Rush brought him to life in the most delightful way. Bringing many great one-off lines, introducing some of the best and most powerful visual moments in the film (particularly after he gives his speech about not being able to feel because of the curse and then proceeds to “introduce” Elizabeth to the moonlight skeleton versions of the Black Pearl’s crew). They did not have to make Barbossa this good, but they did and we are all happy about it!

Clever Writing: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is a really well-written movie! It’s clever in so many ways! It often balances building character and pushing the story forward simultaneously, such as the scene where Elizabeth falls off the cliff and into the ocean at the moment that Norrington proposes to her and Jack then leaps into the water to save her, this scene builds all of their characters and initiates some of the major conflicts in the film.

The movie also does a great job of making both sides sympathetic, particularly in its minor characters such as the opposing sets of buffoons with the set of royal officers and the set of pirates. It is also sympathetic in both the antagonists Norrington and Barbosa, you feel for Norrington when Elizabeth rejects him multiple times throughout the film and you feel for Barbosa when he gives his speech about not being able to feel anything because of the curse.

Plus there are some excellent lines and cinematic moments throughout the film. From humorous, meme-worthy moments like when Elizabeth burns the rum when she and Jack are marooned on the island together and Jack yells, “Why’s the rum gone?” (Yes, it is “Why” not “Where”, this is a commonly misheard line). To towards the end of the movie when Jack shoots Barbosa and Will drops the bloody coin, breaking the curse, and Barbosa dies with the powerful, “I feel, cold.”

Lastly what really ties the movie together well is its excellent use of writing symmetry throughout the film. Parallel moments such as when Will and Jack walk under the ocean, able to breathe only because of the trapped air from the upside-down boat they hold, and when the cursed pirates of the Black Pearl decide to “take a walk” and attack Norrington’s men under the moonlight. Or how Jack falls off the same cliff at the end of the movie that Elizabeth had previously fallen off of.

Humor: Humor in more action-centric films can be tricky to do well, oftentimes it is awkward or doesn’t land right in scenes (though Disney has gotten increasingly better at this since taking on Marvel), however, all three of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movies manages to fit humor in well. Including moments such as funny interactions like how Jack tells Elizabeth at the end of the first film “It would have never worked between us anyway” to running gags such as the pirate, Ragetti, (the skinny tall pirate out of the comic relief pirate duo) who constantly has humorous mishaps with his false eye. But let’s also not forget beloved moments like Jack’s introduction scene and when Jack sings his “I’ve got a jar of dirt” line at Davy Jones. Captain Jack in general is hilarious and does a great job at keeping the movies on the lighter side. Although let’s be real, probably most of Jack’s best moments weren't scripted and they came out of Johnny Depp just having fun with the character.

Ties Back to Source Material: There are so many allusions to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in these movies! (Although Curse of the Black Pearl by far has the most.) Some of my favorites that come to mind include Barbossa drinking the wine after revealing the curse where Elizabeth and the audience can see the wine trickling through Barbossa’s skeletal body, Jack and Will finding Gibbs sleeping in the mud amongst pigs, and of course the pirates in jail scene where they try to lure the dog with the keys. But there are also many subtle hints to the rides throughout the films with some of the locations the characters venture to. Such as the caves where the climax of the first film takes place and the cursed treasure is held which alludes to the skeletal caves people go through during the first half of the ride, the bayou they the gang travels to in both the second and third movies that is very reminiscent of the bayou at the beginning of the Disneyland version of the ride and the utter chaos of the second part of the ride when the pirates are raiding the town that is represented in the films through their regular trips to TorTuga.

Stunning Visual Effects: The Pirates of the Caribbean movies’ effects still hold up today (nearly 20 years later) very well! The skeleton crew of the Black Pearl is obviously the highlight of the movie and they have some incredible cinematic moments throughout particularly the first film. Favorites being when the crew reveals their true selves to Elizabeth (I know I keep bringing up this scene but is so dang good!), the crew walking underwater in the moonlight to attack Norrington’s men, and the fight scene at the end of the film as Jack, Will and Elizabeth fight Barbossa and the remaining crew through the treasures of the Isla de Muerta. Also in the later movies, the computer animation for Davy Jones is incredibly cutting edge computer animation for the time!

Killer Music: I love the score in this movie! It is so well done and Klaus Badelt (the composer) does not get enough credit for this movie! Music is so critical for making the audience feel how they should in a scene and this score was nailed in particularly the first movie! Also “He’s a Pirate” the signature song that everyone knows from the pirates' films is to this day one of my personal all-time favorite songs, up there with work from John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and Danny Elfman (if you don’t know who these composers are I strongly recommend looking them up because they have written a lot of incredible and diverse music).

Curses: Oddly enough, the curse of the treasure of Cortez is also a very strong selling point for this movie. Why you might ask? Because it ties everything together! What else can you take away from a theme park ride that starts in a Biou, wanders into caves full of colorful pirate skeletons then plop the passengers in the middle of a pirate raid? The curse in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is quintessential to making the theme park ride into a coherent movie. How else would they explore the caves full of skeleton pirates? Or make pirate raids simultaneously terrifying and humorous? Magic of some kind is a logical conclusion for any writer, but specifically, a curse that drives half of the cast of the characters' motivations is genius! I also love how Jack purposefully curses himself towards the end of the film to use it for his own advantage, it’s so clever and a great way to make the story, curse, and ride all feel very connected.

SPOILERS AHEAD for Jungle Cruise!!!

Now, if we hold Jungle Cruise up to the same reasons why I believe Pirates of the Caribbean succeed, how does Jungle Cruise hold up? Let’s see, shall we?

Good Characters & Actors: Jungle Cruise also has interesting, dynamic, and are overall fun to watch characters. Jungle Cruise’s protagonists are Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) and Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) and I was pleasantly surprised by both of these characters!

Lily takes on the “woman ahead of her time role” in the film from the very moment of her introduction as she mouths the words to her “brothers” speech. She then takes a firm stance of determination and selflessness as she shamelessly pursues her noble pursuits no matter the cost throughout the entire rest of the film. I love the fact that she wears pants throughout the movie (even donning the nickname “pants” from Frank) regardless of what anyone else thinks, turning the pants into a creative metaphor of her determination and modern spirit. She additionally is quite sassy while also a kind soul constantly willing to put herself in danger in order to help or protect others (which her brother also shares but we will get to him soon).

Frank takes on a calloused, rough, and tumble mankind of facade (which he is and isn’t) yet underneath lies the heart of someone who is devoted, compassionate, and who stands up for what is right. I love that the audience very can early on pick up on the fact that Frank has some pretty deep secrets and seemed at first just to be quite the con man yet later, once his curse is relieved, we better understand why he has been acting that way. I also enjoy that they flesh out Frank’s curse by showing him to be a man of many talents with the scene at night on the boat as Frank plays on his guitar and then critiques Lily’s drawing, claiming that it was a pastime he used to do. This is a fantastic and realistic way to flesh out an immortal character who would probably get really good at a hobby then eventually get bored with them and find a new challenge. Frank’s cheesy sense of humor also was elegantly embedded into the film, working in duel ways to better the movie, by continuing to flesh out Frank’s character and incorporate the spirit and much of the fun of the original ride.

Then there are Jungle Cruise’s supporting characters, MacGregor Hougton (Jack Whitehall) who is Lily’s faithful brother and disgruntled travel companion, and Trader Sam (Veronica Falcón) the Pika Michuna tribe’s leader and friend of the gang.

MacGregor is absolutely my personal favorite character in the movie. He treads a beautiful line of comic relief yet also a side character with his own story to tell. MacGregor wants to turn back the entire journey and is very tied to his worldly possessions and comforts, yet he stays faithful to his beloved sister in helping her accomplish her goals. I also loved the way they portrayed his sexuality, it was clear from the conversation that Frank and MacGregor had about MacGregor’s faithfulness to his sister that he had been ostracized by most of his family for “who he loves” and by rejecting traditional marriage options, but they also didn’t stay on it too long. His sexuality was a significant part of his character, but it also didn’t end up taking over all of his personality. Yes, he favored the comforts of home, but he also stepped up and protected the Pika Michuna people when threatened by the German villain, Prince Joachim. He had a ton of agency and was a key figure in the end fight scenes of the movie at the tree. He was funny, yet kind, protected others, and built his own friendships and bonds throughout the film. I just love this character!

I also very much enjoyed the little bit of screen time we got with Trader Sam (which wasn’t nearly as much as I personally believe she deserved). Both Trader Sam and the Pika Michuna people played into the subverted typical film stereotypes for native people groups in the film by establishing early on the movie that they had a partnership with Frank on his Jungle Cruises, then again when Frank, Lily, and McGregor are “captured”. This friendship with the native people also implies that Frank has stayed in touch with generations of the Pika Michuna people and has probably regularly had their backs in moments throughout time which I think is a very nice way of again building the character of the Pika Michuna people but also Frank’s character. Trader Sam also is quickly established to be very knowledgeable of her own people’s cultures and traditions by translating the text on the arrowhead while simultaneously showcasing her trading interests by taking a liking to a white top hat and prompting a trade with Lily. I loved every moment we got with Trader Sam and wish the movie had more of her!

Unfortunately, the villains in Jungle Cruise didn’t really impress me. Prince Joachim felt very much like an Indiana Jones villain who was trying too hard to be funny and the conquistador squad felt very much like another Pirates of the Caribbean villain but without Barbossa or Davy Jones charisma or swagger. However, I believe that Jungle Cruise was intended to be more of a hero-centric story instead of the gray murky morality of the Pirates franchise. Considering Jungle Cruise has arguably better heroes and Pirates of the Caribbean has arguably better villains/gray characters/heroes who turn gray characters (both of which make sense for each set of stories), I would deem Jungle Cruise on equal footing to Pirates on this particular topic.

Clever Writing: Jungle cruise, similar to Pirate of the Caribbean, does a good job of both pushing character development and the story forward, while also having many clever moments. The beginning of the story does a good job (as I previously stated) of setting up each key character and establishing the story’s the McGuffin of the arrowhead, which is a common film device where a particular object is used as a motivator to drive a story and characters forward. The clever moments in the film range quite a bit from the fresh take on native peoples to Frank’s realistic yet humorous take on immortality, but what I believe is the strongest quality that Jungle Cruise possesses is its ability to seamlessly mix humor, heart, and action together. One of my favorite examples of this is toward the beginning of the film when Frank, McGreggor, and Lily are trying to leave the harbor and the series of misfortunes are occurring to and around them. There is this epic moment where Lily climbs to the top of a tower and it looks like she is about to heroically jump onto the riverboat from her zipline (Indiana Jones style), but the movie hilariously steals this epic moment from her by having her crash into a blanket, continue down to the bottom of the zipline and fall to the adjacent deck. She must then humbly join the boat with the boys and try to play off of what just happened to her. I LOVE the clash of classic action tropes and more realistic humor, it plays so much into the core of the film and the ride. My other favorite example of this is when Frank is explaining his back story to Lily and admits how Aguirre got impatient with the natives and chose to lash out and attack the village, forcing Frank to make the decision to betray Aguirre, who he considers to be a brother, in order to aid the innocent people, the Pika Michuna tribe, that Aguirre is attacking. The tension of action and compassion are psychically manifested in this scene creating a fascinating and well-executed clash. Jungle Cruise’s ability to mix action with both humor and heart is truly incredible because this is a challenging mix to pull off in any film and this deserves to be acknowledged.

For as strong as Jungle Cruise’s writing is in some elements, it doesn’t mean that it is perfect. The first of my grievances in the film has got to be the lack of sympathetic and frankly interesting villains. This was a unique strength of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and not something I expected to be recreated perfectly, however, I was hoping for at least more interesting villains. I feel like they really tried with Prince Joachim, but he fell very flat for me and frankly a stereotypical mockery of German culture (I am by no means an expert on this topic, but I personally was uncomfortable watching this caricature on screen and felt that they could have given him more personality over leaning into his stereotypical cultural representations). As for the conquistadors, they also landed flat and felt like a less cool copycat Pirates of the Caribbean villains without serious sympathy. Yes, they do preface their journey to the Amazon as a way to save Aguirre’s daughter’s life, but this fact felt very rushed over and wouldn’t have really been a driver for Aguirre after nearly 400 years of being cursed and his daughters’ life long lost.

My other major grievance is actually the ending of the movie and the lack of payout over the magical healing/curse-breaking flower. Lily and Prince Joachim spend the whole movie chasing after the flower and Lily actually gets two of them! One to save Frank and the other to take back home to save the world as she dreamed. Yet at the end of the movie, we get no idea what Lily’s medical contributions and flower payout has been. All we get is McGreggor chewing out the scientific society from the beginning of the film and Frank’s poor driving skills. The lack of the payout with the flower makes me think that the ending wasn’t really considered all that thoroughly, because the ending we received felt like they could have NOT gotten the second flower and it could have ended in pretty much the same exact way. It also seriously disturbs me that it seems like all of Lily’s future happiness at the end of the film entirely revolves around her relationship with Frank and not on the dreams that she has had for her entire life. This felt very out of character for Lily and honestly a very poor conclusion to a movie I overall really enjoyed.

How does Jungle Cruise compare to Pirates of the Caribbean in terms of writing? I say Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is written slightly better than Jungle Cruise because the movie feels more thought out from the opening to closing and Jungle Cruise is close, but just doesn’t stick that landing and a few other elements in the same way that Pirates did.

Humor: Again, humor in action movies can be difficult, yet I think Jungle Cruise has a unique advantage over Pirates of the Caribbean in this particular category. Both films pulled from Marc Davis’ (famous Imagineer and key lead Imagineer for Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and more!) incredible character and gag designs to pull from their rides, however, Jungle Cruise also has about 50 years worth of jokes to utilize to its advantage (even if they all happen to be cheesy jokes). Although every joke that comes out of Frank’s mouth is incredibly cheesy, all point to who his character has become and also points to the classic skipper spirit of the Disney parks. The movie in general just has a lot of funny and well-executed moments from Prince Joachim “taking orders from bees,” to Lily’s zipline fail, to McGregor's excessive amount of luggage, to Trader Sam swan diving off of the canoe on top of the submarine exclaiming she “doesn’t take rides from strangers.” I am so glad that the humor was nailed for this movie, especially since it is so critical for representing the heart of the ride! (New Haunted Mansion movie producers, writers, and directors PLEASE take note of how well Jungle Cruise executed this! You have to nail the humor of the new Haunted Mansion movie.) Jungle Cruise 100% wins this one, I love the Pirates humor too, but Jungle Cruise is at a different level!

Ties Back to Source Material: Again, there are so many allusions to the Jungle Cruise ride in this movie! (As there should be.) The majority of the super obvious allusions are all towards the beginning of the movie when Frank takes his river cruise guests (and the audience) on a Jungle Cruise that is a fairly similar experience to the one we experience in the Disney parks. Full of wild creatures and bad puns! I personally particularly like that they included the bit on hippopotamuses (a stable gag from the ride) despite the fact that the movie takes place in South America. I LOVED that the film included every Disney parks lover favorite Jungle Cruise joke, the infamous eighth wonder of the world, “the backside of water!” (Seriously this is a big thing and people love this joke, myself included.) So how does Jungle Cruise compare to Pirates? I would argue that Jungle Cruise had a lot less classic visuals that they could pull from in this specific movie, especially since it was set in South America and over half of the animals on the Jungle Cruise the ride are natively located in Africa (not that they can’t do another movie with some of these visuals.) But Jungle Cruise did an excellent job in utilizing the many many jokes that skippers use on their Jungle Cruise adventures. So yet again, I would say that Jungle Cruise and Pirates had different but equal takes on how they alluded to their corresponding rides.

Stunning Visual Effects: Now this is an interesting category to compare since Pirates of the Caribbean came out in 2003 and Jungle Cruise just came out in July of 2021 and we are dealing with a nearly twenty-year time gap and many many technological advances. Nonetheless, I did very much enjoy the visual effects that Jungle Cruise had to offer. They created an absolutely gorgeous South American river and jungle for the film with many picturesque spots, a hyper-realistic but lovable jungle cat with Proxima, and diversely cursed conquerors. (I will say that the cursed conquerors were a bit derivative of the Pirates of the Caribbean skeleton pirates of the Curse of the Black Pearl, yet following Pirates movies are guilty of the same thing.) The visual effects in Jungle Cruise were really good, however, in comparison to Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl’s cutting edge visuals, it just falls a little short. Jungle Cruise was not cutting edge in the same way, and that’s okay! I always believe the story should come before effects, so personally, I am glad they chose this route instead of a more visually stunning route that wouldn’t have as good of a story.

Killer Music: Okay, so I also really enjoy the score in Jungle Cruise. It’s not quite as memorable as the Pirates of the Caribbean music, however, the score for Jungle Cruise is very solid and fitting for the film (a little Indiana Jonesish but that’s not a bad thing for a jungle-based action/adventure film, why fix something that isn’t broke?). My favorite, favorite song from Jungle Cruise has to be “Nothing Else Matters,” the piece they used for the emotional crux of the film. It is used both when Frank’s story is told both in its simplified form at the beginning of the movie and again in the more in-depth telling with the entire emotional load of betrayal and attempted mass murder when Frank tells Lily about his curse. Also, it turns out that the two composers credited for this song are the very well acclaimed film score composer, James Newton Howard, (who also wrote the rest of the music for the movie) and the incredibly famous heavy metal band Metallica! James Newton Howard has some great scores under his belt (including the Dark Knight Trilogy, the Hunger Games movies, King Kong (2005), the Series of Unfortunate Events tv series, and many many other credits!) and didn’t surprise me at all, but Metallica did! Admittedly, Metallica only is credited for one song, but the heavy rock influence in the song completely makes sense that they helped to bring it to life. Overall the music is still not quite as memorable as Pirates of the Caribbean or the same adventurous punch to the heart that “He’s a Pirate” has, but it is very enjoyable and fitting for the film. It will personally continue to be a score I continue to go back and enjoy!

Curses: Similar to Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Jungle Cruise also used its curse to tie everything together in the movie. It gave a reason why Frank couldn’t leave the river and thus backstory to both the town of Porto Velho and Frank’s Jungle Cruises. Without the curse and the McGuffin, arrowhead, there is no story. However, how the curse affects its victims in this movie is a little contrived of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl curse. The physical representation of the conquistadors is very similar to the skeleton pirates, only with updated special effects and some variation on how the curse affects each individual. However, even those the physical traits of the Jungle Cruise curse is contrived of the Pirates curse, it is fresh to see a curse that has been in effect for a few hundred years and how it took its toll on each of the various affected characters. Particularly that each individual conquistador takes on different abilities and physical features (aka the body built of snakes, mud, trees, and bees/honey) while Frank abandoned his conquistador identity yet gets to keep his human form and rather be more affected by the curse in his boredom and exhaustion for life. It is also interesting to note that Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and Jungle Cruise both have key characters that are affected by the curse, yet in a different way to the majority of the affected parties. Being, Frank was cursed to be tethered to the river but got to ultimately keep his normal physical appearance and Jack was only temporarily cursed, using the curse to his advantage to help him not be as easily killed during the critical battle at the end of the movie. How do the two curses compare? Visually and emotionally I would say Pirates has the easy win in this category since they used very cutting edge technology to bring the undead pirates to life while also having incredibly crafted moments to make the audience both feel for and fear the cursed pirates. Jungle Cruise just didn’t have these same traits (although it does a bit better with the emotional side especially towards the end of the movie when Lily and Frank are getting closer and Frank wants to pass on but Lily doesn’t want him to), however, it did have a very structurally sound curse from a plot perspective and does deserve merit for that! So Pirates does beat out on this one, but only by a little bit.

As a general Disney lover, theme park enthusiast, and film connoisseur I personally really enjoyed Jungle Cruise and am looking forward to seeing where Disney goes with follow-up films and the possibility of a S.E.A. cinematic universe. I do believe Jungle Cruise has the potential of becoming the next Pirates of the Caribbean in its own unique way, yet only time will tell if this will come to pass.

Thanks for reading!